I've been meaning to start a series of posts about some of the essentials of bike commuting.  I had planned to start with the most basic, but I'll start with what proved to be very useful on my commute this morning.  For Christmas I got a pair of Pearl Izumi Am-Fib bike tights.  I love them, they are thermal, highly water resistant, and if the do get wet, they are still very warm because they are made of a wet suit like material.  Yes, I know what your thinking, I bike to the Sounder and ride the train in tights.  When I was in Oregon I just wore my jeans under some rain pants during the winter.  There are many benefits to tights as opposed to jeans or other pants that I talk about later.  They are not essential for commuting, but I'll just say there is no way I would bike the 12 miles to Tukwila in pants.

So this morning I biked up the Interurban Trail to the Tukwila Sounder station.  About a mile from the station a couple people warned my that there was water on the road up ahead.  I said thank you and keep going.  I had a train to catch. With in a half mile of the station there was about an inch of water on the trail and I went through a section that covered my feet as I pedaled.  That wasn't too bad.  When I reached the road that the station is off of, I can see I crew of workers and that the roan is closed.  I pulled up to a worker and asked how bad the sidewalk was ahead (I was about a hundred yards from the station).  He said " You can try to go through if you want."  That was good enough for me!  So I took off down the sidewalk, the water was about a foot deep, some parts were flowing pretty good.  Then it started to get deeper and deeper.  Soon, when pedaling, my feet never left the water. At this point I figured it was best to get off and walk, since I couldn't see what might have been washed on the sidewalk.  So I hopped off, threw my bike on my shoulder and started wading through.  The water came halfway up my thigh. There was a van stuck in the middle of the road.  I made it through and bike the remaining 20 yards to the station.

My tights had gotten soaked.  But were actually quite warm.  My feet were an other story.  So Am-Fib tights, a great addition to bike commuting because you just never know when in your commute you'll have to wade through a small lake.